It would be great if PLEX could let me choose one video track from multiple tracks in one file. For example I have MKV file with 2D video, 3D video and audio tracks in couple languages. Of course, I could have two files, one for 2D and another for 3D. But both of them need to contain the same audio tracks. The feature to switch video track could reduce disk usage a lot.
This is a bad idea IMHO.
The bitrate for one video stream is high enough.
If you mux in another video stream, the cumulative bitrate will go through the roof. Adding unnecessary strain to your disk subsystem and your network (if file is on a NAS).
Having several audio tracks is no problem though. Because the bitrate of an audio track is magnitudes lower than that of a video track.
The cumulative bitrate will be increased, of course. But you choose only one video and one audio stream at the time, so network load is not as big as cumulative bitrate. Letās say you have MKV file with one video stream (~7 Mbps) and 7 different DTS audio tracks (~1.5 Mbps each). It gives you 10,5 Mbps cumulative bitrate just for audio and 7 Mbps for video track. You can save a lot of diskspace if you just add another video track to existing MKV than create another MKV with the same audio tracks but another video.
1 Like
The file still has to be read from disk with the full bitrate.
It might be okay with only 2 or even 3 concurrent users on a local disk, but imagine file storage and Plex server on different machines (e.g. NAS and server PC).
1 Like
If you have your files on NAS, then youāre right, it may slow down the network. I am talking about ability, not obligation. You may add files with multi video streams if you want but you donāt have to do it. Some people may think itās useful, some may not
This request is very limited. It would only apply to files that have a 3D and 2D version of the exact same movie. In this case, I would actually prefer to just keep the 3D version and have PMS convert it to a 2D version by chopping off 1 image (already requested https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/124183/feature-request-convert-3d-to-2d). Or better yet, interpolate a single image from the 2 (not sure if that is even technically possible).
@MovieFan.Plex said:
This request is very limited. It would only apply to files that have a 3D and 2D version of the exact same movie. In this case, I would actually prefer to just keep the 3D version and have PMS convert it to a 2D version by chopping off 1 image (already requested https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/124183/feature-request-convert-3d-to-2d). Or better yet, interpolate a single image from the 2 (not sure if that is even technically possible).
This could kinda work if there was better support for āMVCā coded 3D content. This holds a real 1080p full frame for one eye and the difference information for the other eye. That way you can actually extract a real 2D picture without losing half the picture resolution (like you would if you used Half-SBS or Half Top-Bottom 3D material).
see my comparison of extracted 3D Half-SBS vs. real 2D picture resolution (yes, itās in german but this is about the pictures in there)
Thanks for the link. Google Translate FTW. 
Iām not sure I get it but I donāt want to clog this thread talking about 3D.
I fully support this request. And itās not just about 2D/3D - there are often extras which show specific scenes from different angles, for example - or even the full movie. Regarding the bitrate: I suppose people using this feature know what they do, so let this be their problem.
Also: This shouldnāt be such a big problem to integrate, since you alread offer this feature for audio and subtitle stream.
3 Likes
I know this has been stagnant for a while but I was looking for something similar to this.
My use would not be for 2D/3D video.
I have several anime series where the subtitles were burned onto a second video file.
I have an MKV container with the original video, then another video with the subtitles burned in. Then there are two audio tracks, one English and one Japanese.
All four tracks are contained in MKV.
I like the ability to have a choice when watching different anime shows.
For this purpose I would like the ability to select a video track.
There would be other benefits for this feature. Many films have different versions of the video according to the language. For example, Disney animated films change the video track so that everything written in the image (newspaper, signs, etc.) are in the language of the film.
4 Likes
This is my first post here though Iāve been using Plex for quite a while now. What Iāve been wondering is this: would it be possible to design the client/server interaction to stream only the selected tracks from the HD? Since mkv is a container, couldnāt it be possible for the server to only stream the requested tracks from an mkv file? Or would that be something too complicated to accomplish? Since mkv allows multiple multiplexed streams, how complicated would it be to demux and remux on the fly based on stream selection in the client, instead of serving the entire file to the client? Would something like that be way too burdensome to design/accomplish?
1 Like
This feature would work in the event that there were multiple versions of the same movie.
IE, HDR and SDR versions, or HEVC and AVC versions, or 4k and 1080p versionsā¦ Etc.
You could put any combination together to pick the version you want without having to duplicate files.
I have several shows with identical versions but alternate videos that have nothing to do with 3D. I have rips of Star Trek with original vs CGI enhanced effects, which I added to MKV as different video tracks. I have rips of shows which were originally black and white, but have been colorized and I have both versions as different video tracks.
Works great in VLC, but it doesnāt work with Plex. I was actually excited when I noticed that the Roku client lets you select video yeah tracks, but unfortunately the selection does nothing.
3 Likes
I would love to have this for things like Alien with āmuthr modeā from the blu-ray or movies with information on other video tracks like Get Smart.
1 Like
Echoing the same sentiments but adding a case: full-frame and letterbox rips where the frame covers a different area of the original film. Between this and multiple-language video tracks (translated environment text/titles/etc) thereās really no clean solution other than editions, which in my opinion work better for variable length content like alternate cuts.
Canāt believe this has been requested for 7 years, and canāt believe that hasnāt been upvoted more. Probably not enough visibility to it, this is a must. It already exists for audio, itās no bother to have it for video as well. One reason is that, when looking for a movie for example in āMoviesā, if you have 2 video files, you only see one movie in the library. Not sure how Plex decide which movie to display there, but one thing is sure is that the only way to find the other one, is to create a new category. So you canāt even have 2 different files. There are many cases where you want to have 2 video stream, with the same audios. Directorās movies, with different angles for scenes. Different qualities. Or, videos where srt subs donāt exist, but hardcoded ones do. Hopefully this will one day be implemented, to at least gives users the choice to decide.
2 Likes
Piling on here, as well.
I have a lot of files that Iāve pre-transcoded with 4k, 1080P, and 480P video tracks for use/display on different devices, to avoid CPU usage from scaling (such as on a phone).
However, Plex canāt serve the individual streams and instead transcodes, so I end up downloading the files instead, when I want to use that.
And then, if Iām doing watch together with someone who selects a lower quality than me, it invokes transcoding when it wasnāt necessary.
2 Likes
Sorry for resurrecting an old suggestion, but this would be really helpful for when baking up an anniversary copy of a Movie or TV show and thereās multiple camera angles in the video file due to either behind the scenes content (or in the case of animation) line drawings/previs footage.
Looks like this gets kicked off ever so often, so figured it was my turn. This would be really helpful as well for when you had Animes as many have different scenes/cuts image wording, etc for English version and Japanese version, as well as simulcast and uncut, censored/uncensored, etcā¦
